The fabric of our democracy has not been torn - it merely has a few stains on it, and they are removable

They - the ranks of the dissatisfied - are calling for more direct democracy. The use of the word direct saddens me, because it's an admission that our democracy, as we used to know and respect it, is no longer seen by a large proportion of the British public as fit for purpose. The expenses scandal has turned a nation once satisfied with, even proud of, its democratic institutions and of those who serve in them, into a suspicious and confused collection of doubters and cynics.